No. I did a complete format and I had to update my bios just to install the cpu onto the mother board.......I have over clocked the system to 4.5 ghz and it runs stable .Fs9 is running faster more detailed in all condition with no waiting on loading of textures then on any other cpu I have ever used.Screen res 1920 x 1080.

I just tested out my theory...I have my 975 running stable at 4.7GHz on water with just two cores active. FS9 frame rates in my "everything including the kitchen sink" scenario described above are now in the mid 50s. Wow.Core temps? 48 deg C with a Vcc of 1.49v...Double wow. I'm running BCLK at 142 MHz and a mult of 33, memory is running at 1708 MHz at 6-5-6-18-1T timings. Triple Wow!!Nothing like these discussions to lubricate the mind for new possibilities!CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

I just tested out my theory...I have my 975 running stable at 4.7GHz on water with just two cores active. FS9 frame rates in my "everything including the kitchen sink" scenario described above are now in the mid 50s. Wow.Core temps? 48 deg C with a Vcc of 1.49v...Double wow. I'm running BCLK at 142 MHz and a mult of 33, memory is running at 1708 MHz at 6-5-6-18-1T timings. Triple Wow!!Nothing like these discussions to lubricate the mind for new possibilities!CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Great news Bob !I am going to do the same as far as running off of 2 cores. Like you I have FSDT scenery, well for that matter every decent addon for fs9. Be back later with a report.

Something you guys might be interested inI have a Sager 8760 laptop with a intel i7 920XM processor. This is a quad core with hyperthreading mobile processor. I get great performance in FS9 with this machine. Since I cannot in bios turn off cores or disable hyperthreading (however with win 7 you can set the number of processors win 7 will recognize at boot up) I came up with a batch file using nircmd that will force FS9 to use one core on the fly at a time. What I do is run each core for one minute intervals then switch to the next core. So it goes 1,3,5,7 then back to 1. These are the logical cores of course. This helps to wear level the quads four cores. Since I am forcing single core usage I can use Eleet to overclock my CPU to 3.73GHz. The switching is totally seamless and you cannot tell when the switchover occurs.

Well, just flew around in fs9 for over 2 hrs with my system overclocked @4.88 ghz temp @ 46* c with stock heat sink/fan vcore 1.23v and all but 2 cores running (shut down all but 2 cores in bios) ( hyper threading off).Although, it showed 16 threads whatever that meant?Fs9 responded, awsome in each and every condition I put it in, much better then when with all 6 cores running!Bob,I was wondering if you have tired out fsx with only two cores running? Currently , fsx is not yet installed on my system since my recent format.I may just go ahead and get another 160 gb ssd with both os and fsx installed .That way I can just unplug the ssd and run that hard drive when I want which ever sim not having two hard drives running for no reason.Also, I found out from my last install of fsx on the same hd as fs9 there seemed to be issues with registery files ,this would prevent that from occurring.

Well, just flew around in fs9 for over 2 hrs with my system overclocked @4.88 ghz temp @ 46* c with stock heat sink/fan vcore 1.23v and all but 2 cores running (shut down all but 2 cores in bios) ( hyper threading off).Although, it showed 16 threads whatever that meant?Fs9 responded, awsome in each and every condition I put it in, much better then when with all 6 cores running!Bob,I was wondering if you have tired out fsx with only two cores running? Currently , fsx is not yet installed on my system since my recent format.I may just go ahead and get another 160 gb ssd with both os and fsx installed .That way I can just unplug the ssd and run that hard drive when I want which ever sim not having two hard drives running for no reason.Also, I found out from my last install of fsx on the same hd as fs9 there seemed to be issues with registery files ,this would prevent that from occurring.

Holy cr*p...4.9 GHz on air? Well that might make that 980 worth having!I have not tried FSX in a 2-core config, since it does make use of the additional cores. In your case, though, I'd try it with 4 cores (2 shut down) and see how fast you can get that 980 going configured like that. I'm betting you can hit 4.5-4.6 GHz...but maybe not with a stock cooler and four cores cooking.I ran FS9 and FSX on the same partition for a long time...I run them on separate SSDs now, but just for space considerations. I wouldn't advocate unplugging a drive if you don't have to.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

"Holy cr*p...4.9 GHz on air?" Well the first time I installed the cpu I used the CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series but it seemed too hot running around 56*c to 60 * at stock setting of cpu. So I then just went with the stock cooler ,which I might add is a very nice set up IMHO for stock that is..I guess they figure you spent so much on the cpu you they would actually give you something that will work with it. I am getting much cooer temps with the stock fan/heat sink.